Photograph by George Sakkestad
Saratoga's Ryan Anderson battles pressure from Los Gatos as he brings the ball upcourt in the Wildcat Shootout.
By Dick Sparrer
Westmont was down. But obviously it wasn't an emotional thing--the Warriors were just down on the scoreboard when they trailed Leigh by 10 heading into the final quarter of the championship game in the Campbell Union High School District Shootout.
Because the Warriors couldn't have been down emotionally... otherwise they couldn't have outscored the Longhorns 18-2 in that final period to pull out a thrilling 42-36 come-from-behind victory.
And that's just what they did. The Warriors pulled out the win to clinch the championship in the tournament which featured Westmont, Leigh, Prospect and Del Mar in a two-night event.
Sheryl Mahaffey poured in 18 points to lead the Warriors to the important win over the Longhorns.
Melissa Newberg supported with eight points in the victory and Melissa Taylor added five, Tiffany Reiblein four, Sabine Bosklopper three and Lauren Costanzo and Emillia Ortiz two apiece.
Taylor and Mahaffey went on to win spots on the all-tournament team for their efforts.
Westmont, now 5-1 for the year, had opened the tourney with a tight 44-41 win over Prospect.
Mahaffey and Newberg shared game-high honors for the Warriors with 13 points apiece. Mahaffey tossed in three three-pointers and Newberg hit one.
Reiblein chipped in with eight points, Costanzo had five, Bosklopper and Taylor had two each and Ortiz added one.
The Warriors trailed after three quarters in this one too, but were down just 29-28 going into the fourth.
Heather Winkleman led the Panthers with 14 points in the game and Lyndsey Najima added 12, including a three-pointer. Kim Harkins had six points, Jennifer Sitter five and Ericka Slykhouse four.
Winkleman came back with 14 points and Sitter and Najima had 13 apiece to lead the Panthers to a 59-42 win over Del Mar in the battle for third place. Harkins chipped in with 12 points, including a three.
Sitter ended up earning a place on the all-tournament team.
The Panthers, 4-2 for the year, had opened the week with a 57-44 win over Lynbrook. Winkleman led Prospect with 15 points and Harkins hit 13. Sitter added 12, Slykhouse had 10 and Najima popped a pair of threes to finish with six.
Yvonne Tseng drained four three-pointers on her way to a 13-point night for the Vikings.
Falcons lose two
The Saratoga boys' basketball team dropped two straight games to face early elimination from the Los Gatos Wildcat Shootout last week.
The Falcons lost 62-37 to eventual tourney champion Los Gatos, then fell 66-43 to Leland to drop out of the tournament.
Luke Weger pumped in 18 points, but the Falcons lost their opener to Gatos. Weger hit a pair of three-pointers among his six field goals in the game.
Cory Schwaderer and Jason Ng also popped threes for the Falcons, but they finished with just three points apiece in the loss. Oliver L'Abbe added three points for Saratoga and Mike Black, Jeremy Devich, Micah Weger, Ryan Anderson and Mark Marshall had two points each.
The Wildcats outscored the Falcons 20-10 in the first period and 19-8 in the third on the road to the easy win.
The Falcons, now 0-5 in the young season, were right in the game with the Chargers until the fourth quarter.
Leland led 13-9 after a period, but the Falcons cut the lead to three points by the half, 23-20. Saratoga were outscored 18-14 in the third, but still trailed by just seven heading into the fourth. Leland topped 'Toga 25-9 in the final period, though, to claim the victory.
L'Abbe led the Falcons with nine points, including a three-point bucket, and Black added eight. Ng and Matt McKenna chipped in with six apiece, L. Weger had four, Tony Hsu three and Devich one.
Vikings win tourney
The Lynbrook boys won their own tournament last weekend, beating Silver Creek 75-48 in the finals of the Lynbrook Invitational.
Craig Gunderson led the Vikings to the tourney title, and was named the most valuable player of the tournament for his efforts. He was joined on the all-tourney list by teammates Jacob Godkin and Layne Hoo.
Gunderson bombed 23 points to lead the Vikes to the easy win over the Raiders in the tourney title game. Godkin canned a couple of threes among his six field goals to finish with 14 points in the title game.
Steve Emanuel supported with 13 points for the Vikings in the win, and Stace Russo tossed in 11 points. Hoo also hit a three-pointer.
The Vikes outscored the Raiders in every period but the fourth, including a a 28-12 run in the third quarter that keyed the victory.
Lynbrook, 5-2 for the year, battled from behind to pull out a tight 53-52 win over Capucino in the semifinals. The Vikings outscored the visitors 21-15 in the final quarter to fight back by a seven-point deficit for the one-point win.
Gunderson led the Vikes with 23 points and Hoo and Emanuel tossed in nine apiece.
Panthers fall
Prospect lost a tough 64-63 decision to Overfelt in the seventh-place game at the 76er Invitational at Independence last weekend.
Vince Corcoran bombed 21 points and Aaron Harmon hit 17, but the Panthers lost the heartbreaker to the Royals.
Prospect trailed 23-15 after a period, but outscored Overfelt 25-15 in the second quarter to lead 40-38 at the half. The Royals cut the lead by one in the third, then topped Prospect by two in the fourth to win it.
Uriah Bojorquez supported with nine points, and Eric Ostgarden added eight. Zack Melvin tossed in six points for the Panthers and Aaron Winters added two.
Harmon drained four three-pointers on his way to 30 points, but the Panthers lost a tight 69-67 nod to Fremont a game earlier.
Melvin joined Harmon in double digits with 12 points, including a three. Corcoran added seven points, Ostgarden six, Bojorquez and Rick Suarez four apiece, and Winters and Bradon Morgan two each.
Earlier in the week, Prospect had fallen 76-70 to host Independence to fall into the tournament's loser's bracket.
The Panthers were led by Harmon, who drilled an impressive six three-pointers enroute to a 24-point night. Bojorquez canned three threes and finished with 14 points and Corcoran added 13 points in the game.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, December 18, 1996.
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